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Rosh Ḥodesh Elul (אֶלוּל)

This is an archive of prayers and songs written for, or relevant to, Rosh Ḥodesh Elul, the sixth month in the Jewish calendar.

Rosh Ḥodesh Elul also coincides with Rosh Hashanah la-Behemah, the New Year’s Day for Animals (specifically, domesticated animals) — a birthday for animals conceived in the previous year. The day marks the beginning of a season of introspection and repentance in the late summer or early autumn in anticipation of the Yamim Nora’im (Rosh haShanah, Yom Kippur, and Hoshanah Rabbah), preparations for the prayer for rain on Shemini Atseret at the onset of the wet season.

Click here to contribute a public reading you have written or selected for Rosh Ḥodesh Nisan.

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Exhortacion | Exhortation of Ḥakham Ishak Nieto (1740)

An exhortation given by Ḥakham Ishak Nieto published before his translation of the Sliḥot, in Spanish with English translation by Isaac Pinto (1766). . . .

Tags: 18th century C.E., 55th century A.M., exhortation, Openers, סליחות səliḥot, תשובה teshuvah, תוכחות tokheḥot, זמן תשובה Zman teshuvah

Contributor(s): Isaac Pinto (translation), Ishac Nieto and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

תחנה אמהות מן ראש חודש אלול | Prayer for the New Moon of Elul, from the Tkhine of the Matriarchs by Seril Rappaport (ca. 18th c.)

“Tkhine of the Matriarchs for the New Moon of Elul” by Rebbetsin Seril Rappaport is a faithful transcription of her tkhine published in Vilna, 1874, as re-published in The Merit of Our Mothers בזכות אמהות A Bilingual Anthology of Jewish Women’s Prayers, compiled by Rabbi Tracy Guren Klirs, Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College Press, 1992. shgiyot mi yavin, ministarot nakeni. . . .

Categories: Shabbat Məvorkhim, Rosh Ḥodesh Elul (אֶלוּל)

Tags: 18th century C.E., 56th century A.M., Jewish Women's Prayers, repentance, תחינות tkhines, Yiddish vernacular prayer, זמן תשובה Zman teshuvah

Contributor(s): Tracy Guren Klirs (translation), Seril Rappaport and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

Im Monat Ellul wenn der Schofer geblasen wird | In the month of Elul when the shofar is blown, a teḥinah by Yehoshua Heshil Miro (1829)

“Im Monat Ellul wenn der Schofer geblasen wird” was translated/adapted by Yehoshua Heshil Miro and published in his anthology of teḥinot, בית יעקב (Beit Yaaqov) Allgemeines Gebetbuch für gebildete Frauen mosaicher Religion. It first appears in the 1829 edition, תחנות Teḥinot ein Gebetbuch für gebildete Frauenzimmer mosaicher Religion as teḥinah №30 on pp. 39-40. In the 1835 edition, it appears as teḥinah №30 on pp. 45-47. In the 1842 edition, it appears as teḥinah №32 on pp. 48-50. . . .

Categories: Rosh haShanah la-Behemah, Rosh Ḥodesh Elul (אֶלוּל)

Tags: 19th century C.E., 56th century A.M., German Jewry, German vernacular prayer, Jewish Women's Prayers, תחינות teḥinot, זמן תשובה Zman teshuvah

Contributor(s): Andreas Rusterholz (transcription), Yehoshua Heshil Miro and Aharon N. Varady (translation)

Gebet im Monate Elul | Prayer for the Month of Elul, by Fanny Schmiedl Neuda (1855)

This is the prayer for the month of Elul included by Fanny Schmiedl Neuda in her collection of teḥinot in vernacular German. Fanny Neuda likely either composed or translated this teḥinah into German (from Yiddish) while performing in the capacity of firzogerin (precentress) of the weibershul (women’s gallery) in her husband’s synagogue in Loštice, Bohemia. The English translation provided here was lightly adapted from Rabbi Moritz Mayer’s 1866 translation. . . .

Categories: Shabbat Məvorkhim, Rosh Ḥodesh Elul (אֶלוּל)

Tags: 19th century C.E., 57th century A.M., Bohemian Jewry, אלול elul, German vernacular prayer, חשבון הנפש Ḥeshbon HaNefesh, paraliturgical teḥinot, תחינות teḥinot, Teḥinot in German, the sixth month

Contributor(s): Fanny Schmiedl-Neuda, Wikisource Contributors (transcription), Moritz Mayer (translation) and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

תְּחִנָה לְשַׁבָּת מְבָרְכִים רֹאשׁ חוֹדֶשׁ אֶלוּל | Tkhine for Shabbat Mevorkhim Rosh Ḥodesh Elul (1877)

To the best of my ability, this is a faithful transcription of the תְּחִנָה לְשַׁבָּת מְבָרְכִים רֹאשׁ חוֺדֶשׁ אֶלוּל (“Tkhine for Shabbat Mevorkhim Rosh Ḥodesh Elul”) which appeared in תחנות מקרא קודש (Teḥinot Miqra Qodesh, Widow and Brothers Romm, Vilna 1877). English translation adapted slightly from Techinas: A Voice from the Heart “As Only A Woman Can Pray” by Rivka Zakutinsky (Aura Press, 1992). –A.N. Varady . . .

Categories: Shabbat Məvorkhim, Rosh Ḥodesh Elul (אֶלוּל)

Tags: 19th century C.E., 57th century A.M., Needing Attribution, Needing Proofreading, new moon, paraliturgical birkat haḥodesh, paraliturgical teḥinot, שבת מבורכים shabbat mevorkhim, תחינות teḥinot, תחינות tkhines, Yiddish vernacular prayer

Contributor(s): Unknown Author(s) and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

Explanation and ritual for the Jewish New Year’s Day for Animals, Rosh haShanah la-Behemah on Rosh Ḥodesh Elul

Once upon a time when the Temple still stood, the Rosh haShanah la-Behemah celebrated one means by which we elevated and esteemed the special creatures that helped us to live and to work. Just as rabbinic Judaism found new ways to realize our Temple offerings with tefillot — prayers — so too the Rosh haShanah la-Behemah challenges us to realize the holiness of the animals in our care in a time without tithes. The Jewish New Year’s Day for Animals is a challenge to remind and rediscover what our responsibilities are to the animals who depend on us for their welfare. Are we treating them correctly and in accord with the mitsvah of tsa’ar baalei ḥayyim — sensitivity to the suffering of living creatures? Have we studied and understood the depth of ḥesed — lovingkindness — expressed in the breadth of our ancestors teachings concerning the welfare of animals in Torah?haShanah la-Behemah is the day to reflect on our immediate or mediated relationships with domesticated animals, recognize our personal responsibilities to them, individually and as part of a distinct and holy people, and repair our relationships to the best of our ability. . . .

Categories: Rosh haShanah la-Behemah, Rosh Ḥodesh Elul (אֶלוּל)

Tags: animal welfare, animals, behemah, בהמות behemot, Compassion, eco-conscious, ḥeshbon nefesh, shofar blowing, צער באלי חיים tsa'ar baalei ḥayyim

Contributor(s): Aharon N. Varady

A Blessing for the Bugs on the Jewish New Year’s Day for Animals, Rosh Hashana La-Behemah, by Trisha Arlin

I have come to see That we are not the only creatures who are B’tzelem Elohim, We are all in God’s image. So today, on Rosh Ḥodesh Elul, On the New Year of the Domesticated Beasts, Let’s give thanks to the bugs Like the four questioning children Wise and snarky and simple and oblivious, Like the four worlds of the kabbala The earth, the sky, the heart and the spirit We give thanks and acknowledge The bugs we have domesticated The bugs who serve us in their wild state The bugs that hurt us or gross us out And the bugs who live only for themselves, without any reference to us. . . .

Categories: Rosh haShanah la-Behemah, Rosh Ḥodesh Elul (אֶלוּל)

Tags: 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., crawling things, English vernacular prayer, first person, four worlds, Fourth Day of Creation, insects, neo-lurianic, New York City, North America, Prayers as poems

Contributor(s): Trisha Arlin

Kavvanah before Shofar Blowing on Rosh Ḥodesh Elul for Rosh haShanah la-Behemah (the Jewish New Year’s Day for Animals)

The text of this ritual shofar blowing for Rosh Ḥodesh Elul on Rosh haShanah La-Behemah developed as part of the annual ceremony taking place at the dairy barn on the campus of the Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center beginning in 2009 under the auspices of Elat Chayyim Center for Jewish Spirituality and the Adamah Farm & Fellowship. The first Rosh haShanah ritual ceremony was co-developed by Rabbi Jill Hammer and Kohenet Sarah Chandler. My contribution of the kavvanah came a year later in 2010. The text presented here was built upon that ceremony and was presented first at the Hazon Detroit Jewish Food Festival in 2016. . . .

Categories: Rosh haShanah la-Behemah, Rosh Ḥodesh Elul (אֶלוּל)

Tags: 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., animal protection, animal welfare, בהמות behemot, אלול elul, חשבון הנפש Ḥeshbon HaNefesh, שופר shofar, shofar blowing, the sixth month, צער באלי חיים tsa'ar baalei ḥayyim, זמן תשובה Zman teshuvah

Contributor(s): Aharon N. Varady

Meat and Feathers: We Confess, a vidui for Rosh haShanah la-Behemah (the Jewish New Year’s Day for Animals), by Trisha Arlin

Trisha Arlin first published this prayer for a communal confession on Rosh Hashanah LaBehemot on her liturgy site, here. Elements of this vidui (confession) are derived from the Kavvanah before Blowing the Shofar on Rosh Ḥodesh Elul for Rosh Hashanah LaBehemot (New Year’s Day for Domesticated Animals). . . .

Categories: Rosh haShanah la-Behemah, Rosh Ḥodesh Elul (אֶלוּל)

Tags: 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., animals, בהמות behemot, חשבון הנפש Ḥeshbon HaNefesh, predatory nature, וידוי vidui

Contributor(s): Trisha Arlin

Blessing for Rosh Ḥodesh Elul, by Kohenet Ilana Joy Streit

A blessing for announcing the new moon of Elul, for Rosh Ḥodesh Elul, and for the whole month. A poem of kindness, rootedness and transformation as we enter into a time of turning and returning. . . .

Categories: Rosh Ḥodesh Elul (אֶלוּל)

Tags: 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., אלול elul, English vernacular prayer, תחינות teḥinot, תשובה teshuvah, זמן תשובה Zman teshuvah

Contributor(s): Kohenet Ilana Joy Streit

The Story of Elul, by Todd Greenberg

I tried to look at different aspects of what we as Jews contemplate and think about as we move towards the High Holy Days. God’s view of what we did out of fear and loneliness and perhaps why we can never see God’s face and for us to reflect on how we act in the world and what God has asked us of in this lifetime. This poem/prayer is perhaps a little rough, that was intentional. Rather than being a true historical commentary on Elul, I tried to tell a little story about it. . . .

Categories: Rosh Ḥodesh Elul (אֶלוּל)

Tags: 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., במדבר Bamidbar, אלול elul, English vernacular prayer, Prayers as poems, זמן תשובה Zman teshuvah

Contributor(s): Todd Greenberg

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Sefer Evronot - p. 154 mazal betulah (Pinchas ben Avraham Halevi 1716)

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ויהי נעם אדני אלהינו עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננה עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננהו "May the pleasantness of אדֹני our elo’ah be upon us; may our handiwork be established for us — our handiwork, may it be established." –Psalms 90:17

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